Out: to Singapore

I happened to have to go to The Hague some days ago. On my way by bus and train I came along Schiphol Airport. Of course I took the opportunity to visit the book- and stationery store there, to see if there were interesting postcards.
So I found this Airport postcard which I sent to Jael in Singapore.

And fortunately Dutch PostNL has issued Schiphol Airport stamps last year, so I was happy to be able to add these to my card for her.

Out: to the Netherlands...

... via Hong Kong, Russia and Singapore!
It is part of a chaincard project, of which there are many via instagram.

This time the theme is 'bridges', which means the front side of the card is free, but the participants should add 'bridge' stamps to the back side. As I love bridges, I am happy to participate. This card is mine and will start it's journey across four countries today:



And during the coming weeks to months I'll be waiting for the other participants' postcards, to add Dutch bridge stamps to.

The photo on this postcard has been made by Quinta Buma, she is a wonderful photographer from Nijmegen.
In the background you can see my favourite bridge, the old (and present) 'Waalbrug', bridge over the river Waal.

The stamps show a new, recently opened bridge over the river Waal in Nijmegen (below), named 'De Oversteek' (the crossing), and on top the 'Zouthavenbrug', a pedestrian bridge in the center of Amsterdam.

Out: to the Netherlands

I am a big fan of the animal illustrations by Dutch illustrator Leendert Jan Vis. So when I find cards to buy and an opportunity (receivers) to send them to, I hop happily to the mailbox.
The card above I'm sending to my good old friend and music pal Frank. We used to play in the band named 'Below the Mole' and the two of us wear glasses, so I think this card very suitable.

As I am sending these moles to the city of Nijmegen, I am happy to add a matching stamp. It's a personalized one, showing the bridge over the river Waal, the photo was taken by another dear person from Nijmegen, Dutch photographer Quinta Buma.



The other card will travel to an other Dutch friend. Alas I was a little belated, but the fact that it's a mail turtle and also snails are shown, makes me laugh instead of feeling guilty. I hope this card will raise a smile on her face, too!



As she had sent me penguins before, and she and her husband love animals and like to travel, I thought this stamp matching to add on the envelope to her.

Out: to Sri Lanka

I was happy to find these maxicards on the internet. The stamps have been issued in 1989 for the 150th anniversary of the Dutch Railways.



The card below shows a mail train!
I haven't seen trains like this anymore for the last decades. Probably mail is carried in common cargo trains without logo, or by road in vans. I think the latter, as I see many mail vans on the highway.



On all back sides there is a prominent 'R' printed at the place where the stamp has to be sticked.
It is clear to whom I have to send these cards!

Out: to Morocco

The more I look at this postcard, the more I am amazed about how proportions can differ, depending on the point of view.
I've sent the card to someone who likes/loves cows. Well, who wouldn't love cows?

On the back number three of the recently issued Postcrossing stamp sheet, showing deer in National Park De Hoge Veluwe.

Out: to Sri Lanka

I had sent a small picture of the Amersfoort railway station on a multiview card to Ravindra already. Recently I found an other postcard. With indeed exactly the same photo, but a larger, easier visible one, so now it is on its way to Sri Lanka.

As Ravindra loves lighthouses, too, I added this recently issued stamp on the back.



(I've reserved one of this stamp to send to you, too, Eva! :-) )

Out: to the United Kingdom

This painting by Carl Spitzweg is named 'Der ewiger Hochzeiter' or 'The eternal bridegroom'.

In the back you can see a clock (and I think it a nice and fascinating painting!), that's why I couldn't resist to send this card to John for his clock postcards collection, even though his clock blog is closed now.

On the back I added a stamp which shows a flower who is appearing in real in our country, these days, as a sign of spring: the crocus.

Out: to Sri Lanka

Another tram postcard found to send to Ravindra in Sri Lanka! I happened to find a temporary 'brocante' market on my way in my home city, and of course the old black and white photo postcards attracted my attention.

This card has travelled and will travel far, both in time and in place.
Concerning time: the card has been written and sent for the first time in 1929. And more than 86 years later it is sent again.



Concerning place: the card - originally from Marseille, France - was sent from Tanger in Morocco, to Haarlem in the Netherlands.
And now will travel from the Netherlands to Nugegoda in Sri Lanka!



On the envelope I added these train stamps, which I hope Ravindra will like, too. These I bought in the city of Utrecht at the stamps shop of Wim van der Bijl, a very friendly and remarkable stamp collector and seller.

Out: to the United Kingdom

Similar to the country where the receiver of this card is living, The Netherlands are considered a monarchy. However, the government / parliament mainly acts independent of the king (I don't know if this is similar to the U.K.?).

At school I learned that governments are located in the capitals of the concerning countries. A funny fact about the Netherlands is, that this isn't fact in our country. Amsterdam is our capital, but the government is in the city of Den Haag (The Hague). The postcard below shows a part of the city of The Hague with the buildings of the Dutch ministries.
Fortunately there happened to be one stamp left on a five-stamps sheet, which was dedicated to this city (see above). On the sheet you can see these buildings, too. The stamp itself shows a part of the Ridderzaal, and a stork: the bird of this city, once chosen because they might bring luck. On the Coat of Arms of The Hague the stork is holding an unfortunate black eel in his/her beak.

Out: to Morocco and the United Kingdom

'La sieste' heet deze foto uit 1972 van Paul Almásy. Gelukkig had ik twee exemplaren, zodat ik ze naar twee postvrienden kon sturen die (net als ik) van plaatjes van lezende mensen houden.

The name of this picture (1972) is 'La sieste'. It has been made by Paul Almásy. Fortunately I found two copies, so I was able to send it to both mail friends who like pictures of reading people (like I do, too).



Met op de postzegels allerlei bekende mensen: de bouwer van de eerste onderzeeboot Cornelis Drebbel, de DJ Armin van Buuren, 'De Zouaaf' door Vincent van Gogh, en de Nederlandse koning.

On the stamps some well-known people: Cornelis Drebbel, who built the first navigable submarine (in 1620), Armin van Buuren, the Dutch DJ, 'The Zouave' by Vincent van Gogh, and the Dutch king.

Out: to Japan

Rond dezelfde tijd dat een Postcrosser mij een tweede kaart stuurde, raakte een van mijn verzonden kaarten 'expired'. Van het theekopje had ik geen tweede exemplaar, maar omdat de ontvangster volgens haar postcrossing-profiel van theeceremonieën èn van schattige dieren houdt, leek deze kaart me ook geschikt.
Inmiddels is deze kaart aangekomen, en wat blijkt: tot haar schrik was ze mijn eerste kaart vergeten te registreren.
Kortom, twee mensen blij: zij met de twee kaarten en ik omdat ik twee keer met plezier een kaart geschreven en verstuurd had, die uiteindelijk allebéí hun reisdoel gezond en wel bereikten!

About the same time that a Postcrosser had a second try to send me a postcard, one of my sent Postcrossing postcards became 'expired'. The intended receiver loves tea ceremonies, so my first card showed a tea cup. I didn't have a copy of that card, so I re-read her profile and learned that she also loves cute animals. And I happened to have this cute-animal-tea-cups card, which I thought suitable.
This card now has landed, and my previous card turned out to have been arrived, too! She just had forgotten to register it. So now there are two happy people: she because she received two cards, and I because I had the pleasure to write and send two cards, and both of them have arrived safe and sound!

Out: to the USA

In het kader van het Weeskaarten-project ontving ik deze kaart van het Nederlands Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem.
Toevallig staat uitgerekend deze molen ook op een van de postzegels van het postzegelvel, dat in 2012 werd uitgegeven ter gelegenheid van het 100-jarig bestaan van het Openluchtmuseum. Èn toevallig dat ik deze postzegel nog had, want het postzegelvel was inmiddels aardig geslonken, van tien naar vier zegels!
De andere molenpostzegel laat een vergelijkbare standerdmolen zien en komt van een postzegelvel uit 2013 over molens. Grappig trouwens dat de standerd molen in het Engels 'post mill' heet.

For the Orphaned Postcards Project I received this postcard of the Open Air Museum in the city of Arnhem. How coincidental that I had kept a stamp of exactly this corn mill so far, from the stampsheet which was issued in 2012 for the 100th anniversary of the Open Air Museum! I am happy to add it to the postcard. The other, similar 'Standerd mill' is from a 2013 stamp sheet on Dutch windmills.



En deze postzegels zaten op de envelop waarin PostMuse mij bovenstaande kaart stuurde, zie links de post-postzegel!

And these stamps were sticked to the envelope in which PostMuse had sent me the orphaned postcard. See the stamp on the left, it's postal themed!

Out: to the USA

[please scroll down for English translation]

Een heel mooi post-project is dat van PostMuse uit Amerika. Onder de naam 'Orphaned Postcard Project' ontfermt zij zich - en wij, postliefhebbers, met haar - over weeskaarten.
Je kunt ook meedoen met dit project. PostMuse heeft tal van kaarten uit de hele wereld die nog niet beschreven zijn. Als je iets weet te vertellen over zo'n kaart, of over de plaats, of iets anders naar aanleiding van de kaart, kun je de betreffende kaart opvragen, beschrijven en weer terugsturen. Vervolgens blogt PostMuse erover.
Hierboven een glimp van de mooie envelop die PostMuse maakte. Waarin onderstaande kaart zat. Van de prachtige provincie Drenthe. Daar komt een van mijn favoriete zangers, Daniël Lohues, 'weg' (= vandaan). En vooral: we hebben daar een heel mooie vakantie doorgebracht. Het contrast tussen de rust en ruimte (en schone lucht!) van Drenthe en het gebrek aan rust en ruimte (en fijnstof en andere luchtverontreiniging) in onze eigen omgeving is groot.




A very nice mail project is the 'Orphaned Postcard Project' by PostMuse from the USA. She takes care for 'orphaned' postcards, and gives us, snail mail lovers, the opportunity to do so, too.
You can join this project. PostMuse has several postcards from all-over the world who are still empty so far. If there's a postcard which has a special meaning for you, and on which you can write something, about the card, about the place or anthing that has to do with that card, you can request it for adoption. When PostMuse has sent the card, you can write your message on it, put a postage stamp on it and send it back to PostMuse, who then will blog about it.
On top you see a glimpse of the beautiful envelope (and stamps) PostMuse had sent me. Inside this, there was the postcard you see above.
It shows parts of the beautiful province of Drenthe, in the east of the Netherlands. One of my favourite singer-songwriters has been born there (Daniël Lohues).
The reason to 'adopt' this postcard is, that we've spent a beautiful vacation there, in which I noted the clear contrast between the nature, fresh air and relaxed people we found in Drenthe, and the unrest, urbanization, polluted air and stressed people in the region where I am living.

Out: to the United Kingdom

'Postvervoer' is de titel van deze prachtige illustratie, nummer 30 uit het boek De Kilometer-kampioen, gemaakt door Charles Burki (1909-1994).

'Mail transport' is the title of this beautiful illustration made by the Dutch illustrator and designer of means of transport Charles Burki (1909-1994). It's an illustration from the book 'De Kilometer Kampioen', issued in 1954. When you click on the numbers on the left on this site, you can see more illustrations from this book (the one above is number 30).

In: from the United Kingdom, directly and via Spain

Wat een mooi toeval: op exact dezelfde dag ontving ik twee verschillende kaarten van twee verschillende personen uit twee verschillende landen, met verschillende overeenkomsten! Een postzegel als afbeelding, en beide kaarten waren bovendien in hetzelfde jaar uitgegeven, in 2009, door de Engelse Royal Mail.

Such a nice coincidence: on exact the same day I received two postcards showing a postage stamp. They were issued in 2009 by the Royal Mail. And sent to me by two totally different persons, from different countries.



Leuk, deze slak, met een 'mythical creature', een 'pixie' op het huisje op zijn/haar rug. De postzegel is ontworpen door Morgan Radcliffe, de illustratie getekend door Dave McKean.
Verstuurd vanuit Spanje. Dankjewel, Eva!

A nice snail, with a 'mythical creature'on it, called a 'pixie'. The stamp has been designed Morgan Radcliffe, the illustration has been made by Dave McKean.
The card has been sent from Spain. Thank you very much, Eva!





En op deze postzegel de markante rode Engelse telefooncel, ontworpen door Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, die ook andere ontwerpen, inclusief gebouwen, op zijn naam heeft staan.
Met dank aan John!

And on this stamp you see the typical red telephone box, which was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed other objects, including buildings like the Liverpool Cathedral.
Thank you very much, John!





De telefooncel-kaart was een antwoord op deze lezende mannen. Boven: Zola, door Manet, onder: filatelisten (dus of ze echt lezen, of plaatjes kijken, is de vraag :-)

The telephone box stamp card was sent as a reply to these reading men. Above: Zola by Manet; below: philatelists (so we'll never know whether they are really reading or just looking at pictures :-)

Out and in: to and from the United Kingdom

Altijd leuk om ansichtkaarten met als onderwerp 'brievenbus' te ontvangen! Met toepasselijke postzegels, ook. Deze twee ronde brievenbussen staan vlakbij kasteel Windsor. Ontvangen van John uit Engeland.

It's always nice to receive postcards showing letterboxes. And even a miracle when the stamps show letterboxes, too! These two pillar boxes are located close to Windsor Castle. Thank you very much, John!



Verstuurd als antwoord op deze kaart van de levenbarende hagedis, die ik weer stuurde vanwege die ene postzegel, rechtsboven in de hoek, die de ontvanger graag wilde en waarvan ik toevallig nog een exemplaar had (nb deze gulden-postzegels zijn nog te gebruiken tot 1 november a.s.!..).



Sent as a reply to this postcard, showing a common lizard, which I've used as a carrier to send the stamp in the right corner.

Out: to Spain

Weerspiegeling van de lampjes in de Amstel. Verstuurd naar Eutrapèlia, voor haar bijzondere spiegel-collectie.

Reflection of the lights in the river Amstel, Amsterdam.
Sent to Eutrapèlia, who has a nice collection of all kinds of mirrors.